


Tiny Sparkle

by LegolasLovely



Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Comfort, Cuddling & Snuggling, Dwarf Culture & Customs, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Hurt/Comfort, Illnesses, Love Confessions, Protectiveness, Singing, human reader, lullaby
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-12
Updated: 2019-12-12
Packaged: 2021-02-25 21:34:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,441
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21772276
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LegolasLovely/pseuds/LegolasLovely
Summary: (Y/N) gets mysteriously sick at a celebration and Fili refuses to leave her side.
Relationships: Fíli (Tolkien)/Reader, Fíli (Tolkien)/You
Comments: 5
Kudos: 127





	Tiny Sparkle

**Author's Note:**

> {Warnings: Talk of sickness, fainting spells, fluff, comfort, angst, angry protective Fili!}  
> Gulmalûm: Tiny Sparkle

She was the brightest light in a hall full of chandeliers and gems. That’s how Fili saw her anyway, and he’d stick his favorite knife in the gut of anyone who said any different. But he wasn’t thinking about anyone else’s gut as his own flipped with proud butterflies while he watched (Y/N) dance with his brother. Well, (Y/N) was dancing, Kili was just skipping around and twirling her under his arms with a wide grin and messy hair.

Fili felt his own foolish smile spread across his cheeks as he watched her. Next to Kili’s awkward flipping, she was the epitome of grace as she spun and left her skirts to trail around her legs in wave after wave of soft fabric. He couldn’t hear her laugh over the music and the boisterous chatter of the other dancers, but he could imagine the sound as she tilted her head back and closed her eyes when Kili told her another one of his jokes. It was special, unique to her, and the most beautiful sound he’d ever heard. (Y/N) seemed to be having the time of her life.

And then she wasn’t.

Quicker than a beat of the drum, she was falling into Kili’s arms, unconscious. Her hands fell limp and her head lolled and Fili flew through the crowd of dwarfs, scooping her into his arms and interrogating Kili.

“What happened?”

“I don’t know! She-she said she wasn’t feeling well and I was bringing her to the table and then she just collapsed.”

“She’ll be all right,” Fili said, more to the one in his arms than anyone else. He whisked her out of the hall, listening to his brother call to the high table for Oin. Fili left the others in a crowd of questions and panic, rushing to Oin’s chambers and laying her on the extra bed the medic kept for his patients in a small room of his bedchambers.

Fili’s stomach flipped when he saw her lying alone on the bed. Being a human, she was taller than all of them, her limbs longer, her heart bigger. Now, she looked so small. He brushed a stray lock of hair from her forehead and felt her sweat-damp skin. Terror started to fill him from his chest out. When Oin finally caught up with them, Fili held his shaking hands behind his back.

“What’s wrong with her?” Fili asked.

“Will she be all right?” Kili asked, swinging into the room by a hand on the door frame. “She was fine and then she-she said she wasn’t feeling well-”

“Out,” Oin said.

“What?” Kili asked.

“Leave.” Oin said, opening a tall cabinet revealing vials and jars of different powders and plants. He reached for one, studied the small label he’d made and put it back in exchange for another one. “I need room to treat her. I don’t need more questions. I will find you if there’s change.”

Kili gave one last look to his friend on the white bed, glanced to his brother and nodded before he left the small room.

Oin waddled around the bed, shoving the staring Fili out of the way as he passed and waved the open jar under his patient’s nose. “You too. Out. I will find you if there’s a change.”

“Me? I’m not leaving. I’ll stay out of the way-”

“Fili, come.” Thorin was one of the dwarfs rushing through the corridors after (Y/N) and had been standing in the doorway watching the scene. After Fili sent him a look, he said, “Let Oin do his work.”

Fili’s feet took on roots. “How can you ask me to leave her? I won’t. I won’t have her wake up without-without me here.” He grabbed her cold hand and quickly marveled at how she stole the heat from his skin.

“You can’t help her now,” Thorin said.

Though Fili was used to his uncle’s harsh voice, his words made him bristle. His glare softened as he turned to (Y/N) and ran the back of his fingers down a pale cheek with a silent promise to return. The sneer that he gave his uncle, however, would have made any orc cower. As he stomped past his uncle he said, “If anything happens to her and I’m not here-”

“Nothing will happen.”

“You should hope.”

Fili remained outside Oin’s door for hours that felt like decades. He was alone except for Kili who would risk his brother’s wrath instead of leaving him distraught and pacing the corridors by himself. It was widely known that all in the royal family had wicked tempers, but Fili’s was different. No explosions or harsh, quick words unmeant, just simmering, terrifying rage that would make up for his usual cool head. The elder brother didn’t often raise his voice to others but Kili had never seen him as angry as he was with Thorin today. He wondered of the consequences that would come of it but didn’t dare to bring it up while (Y/N) was still in danger. The human’s special place in Fili’s heart was a secret the brother’s kept, but after his outburst today, the secret was most likely out.

Kili sat on the floor, watching Fili lean a hand on the cool stone wall of the corridor. “She’ll be all right. Oin knows what he’s doing.”

Fili only hummed. A hand ran over his face.

The door beside them opened, revealing Oin where the wood once stood locked and unmoving. “You may see her now, but you must remain-”

Fili rushed past him, the wind of his speed sending his hair whipping over a strong shoulder. He quickly disappeared into the alcove. 

“Calm,” Oin finished for Kili’s sake with a sigh.

Fili froze in the doorway. He winced when he saw her. Even from where he stood, he could hear her labored breathing and see her bare toes coiling in agony. She was curled into a little ball, her fists hiding the half of her face that wasn’t pushed into the pillow. He said her name with a quiet breath and she unrolled her fingers to wave at him blindly.

“How are you doing?” he asked, stepping toward her.

“She is not feeling her best and won’t be for some time to come,” Oin said from behind him. Kili’s grimace matched his brother’s as he took in (Y/N)’s state. Before he could say anything, she spoke.

“I feel like a goblin who ate too many snails and hasn’t seen the sun in a century.”

“You’re much prettier than a sun-deprived goblin,” Fili said, taking a gentle hold of her calf and running his thumb back and forth.

One eye opened to peer than him and then closed. “Liar.”

He smiled for the first time since the celebration and stepped closer to her but she pushed him away.

“Stay away. I’ll throw up on you.”

Kili made a soft sound of disgust and slinked toward the door but Fili just laughed. “Nonsense,” he said, sitting on the small bed and kicking up his feet. Despite her earlier protests and warning, (Y/N) took to him instantly. She remained in her tight ball, but laid her head on his chest and took his tunic into her fist.

“Don’t blame me when this happens to you.”

“(Y/N), you’re not contagious. There’s no need to fret about Fili,” Oin said, hands around his belt.

“What’s ailing her, then?” Fili asked.

“The human body is infinitely different from a dwarf’s. It does not react well with some environments and foods we ourselves are used to, specifically the wild mushrooms from the south. Had I known this, I would have warned her and spared her this pain she will be in for some time, but alas, I did not.”

She whined, tugging her knees closer to her body at this news. Fili felt his heart breaking and he ran his fingers through the locks at her temple, peeling the curls off her damp skin.

“Wait one second,” Kili said from the doorway. “You’re telling me, after fighting orcs, goblins, trolls, wargs, and everything else we came across on our journey here, a _mushroom_ is what’s gonna take her down?”

(Y/N) breathed out a laugh against Fili’s tunic, sending the fabric waving against his skin and a shiver up his spine. Kili was the one who could always make her laugh.

“(Y/N) will be just fine when it subsides. Nothing will be _taking her down_ any time soon. But she should be left to rest.” Fili gave him a wild look and Oin waved him off. “You may stay. We will leave.”

Kili winked at his brother and lifted (Y/N)’s gown from the chair it was strewn across. “I’ll take this back to her chambers and bring her some of her own clothes,” he said, noticing the gaping tunic and short trousers Oin had dressed her in. He smirked. A human in dwarf clothing was an entertaining sight and he’d tease (Y/N) about it when she was feeling better.

Fili rolled his eyes, reading Kili’s mind, but his attention was pulled back to (Y/N) when she shifted against him and started to tremble. His gaze roamed over her- eyes still shut tight, skin still damp and hot, breath still arduous, but steady. He called to Oin before the medic could leave. “She’s shivering, but her skin is hot. Is she-what’s happening?”

Oin nodded. “It’s normal. I can promise she’s through the worst of it and I can leave her in your capable hands. There will be a guard outside the door to send if you need anything. I’m going to tell your uncle the news.”

Fili nodded, watching Oin unfold a large blanket and lay it over (Y/N)’s quivering form. “When you see Uncle, will you tell him… I’ll go and see him in the morning, but will you tell him…”

“I will.” He gave a low nod and left.

When he heard the door to the chambers close, Fili again looked to one attached to his side. If he hadn’t known better, he’d be terrified by her pale cheeks and clenched jaw. Oin’s words echoed in his mind. _She’ll be just fine. She’s through the worst of it. Nothing will be taking her down anytime soon._

Her writhing brought him back. She tangled one of her legs in his to shift closer to him while still keeping her balled up stance. “It hurts, Fi.”

His stomach sunk. He knew it took a lot for her to complain. Earlier in the year, she had taken an arrow to the shoulder and though a few tears ran down her face, she never whined of the pain. “I know, gulmalûm. I wish I could take it away.” He pulled her sticky hair from her neck, and set his cool fingers on her burning skin, watching her brow slowly relax. “Have I ever told you the story about Ki getting stuck in a tree with nothing but his boots on?”

A smile spread over her face, but her eyes never opened. “No.”

His fingers moved to her back, running his blunt nails up and down. His lips twitched when she leaned into his touch. “We were very young, both in our thirties, if I remember correctly. I had convinced a very sweet lass, Mevine, her name was, to take a stroll with me after she supped with her family. I walked out to her home, her father gave me a speech about being respectful to his daughter-”

“As if you’d be anything but.”

He hummed. “And we went off into the wood for a stroll while the sun set. I promised to have her back by dark.” He ran a finger over the curve of (Y/N)’s jaw, from ear to chin. “Try to relax. You don’t want a headache added to your pain.”

She sighed. “What happened next? Was Kili following you?”

“Of course he was. All the way from the mountain and into the woods. He wanted to see what would happen with me and this lass.” Her laugh whistled softly in his ears. “And I’ll have you know, nothing did happen. Only a kiss on the cheek.”

“Somehow I don’t believe you.”

“I’m offended, (Y/N), really.” He adjusted the blanket on her shoulder. “Now, Kili had chosen an awful hiding place. There are bushes in the south forest with burrs that catch your clothing and don’t let go while they scratch and cut the skin. They’re just awful. So of course, he was hiding in there. And I yell, “Who goes there! Come out and show yourself!”

“Mevine’s knight in shining armor.”

“Yes,” he laughed. “And Kili is so desperate to keep his secret and stay hidden that when he tries to get out of the bush and can’t, he just slips out of his clothes and flies up the nearest tree where we can’t see him.”

“You’re joking!”

“It’s the truth!” Fingers slid from her temple to her ear, gathering her hair down her neck. Her eyes were open now, but her legs were still curled to her chest and her hands held in fists. His distraction was a half success.

“Did you find him in the tree, then?” she asked.

“Kili is a talented tree-climber, but he’s not the brightest one. He stood on a branch that couldn’t take his weight and it snapped off, leaving him hanging and dangling, if you know what I mean-”

“Fili!”

“It’s what happened! The next branch was too low for him to reach and he was too scared to jump, so I had to climb up and help him down.”

“Did you at least bring his trousers up with you?”

“No! He had to learn a lesson about eavesdropping.”

“I bet Mevine was scarred for life.”

“You’d be correct.”

She breathed out a laugh, but it was followed by a hiss and wince of pain. She wriggled against him and he slid down into the bed, allowing her to lay more fully on his chest.

“You should try to rest now. I’m sure if you sleep, you’ll feel better when you wake.”

“Easier said than done, Fi. But you know what would help,” she said, peeking up at him.

His chest deflated. “I can’t exactly say no to you when you’re in agony.”

“No, you can’t.” He could hear the smile in her voice.

Fili’s soothing singing voice was only known by a select few. He refused to sing in front of groups, or at dinner or balls. He hated the attention and the pressure, though he did enjoy singing to himself and often to his brother. Once on the quest she’d caught him humming to himself as he washed his tunic in the stream and that was it. She’d often beg him to sing her favorite song when they were star gazing with Kili, or sharing stories by a fire. It’s where his nickname for her came from.

“Please, Fi,” she whispered.

A hand rested on her shoulder and a thumb wave back and forth as his soft voice grumbled from his chest and drifted past his lips in sweet song. He felt her sigh and relax in his hold and let his swimming melody grow. Spoken Khuzdul could be harsh to foreign ears, but when it was sung, the ragged corners of the consonants were rounded and smoothed by the voice. He let her fall into it, thinking of the day he taught her the common tongue translation and remembering the grin she gave him.

_My gem- a tiny sparkle in the night._

_My gem- my heart, my soul, and my light._

_Take hold of my life,_

_I give you my love,_

_With hope that you might_

_Think of me in darkness tonight._

To her, it was just a lullaby. To him, a confession.

He sang it twice before he felt her hands relax and her breathing even out and slow. He rose to his elbows, ready to slide out from under her and let her get some rest alone, but she clung to him in her sleep, straightening out so he could see her tranquil face. Breath flew into his lungs when she rolled over him and draped her arm over his belly. He stared at her features as his grip involuntarily tightened around her. He shouldn’t be enjoying this as much as he was. His brain was gnawing at him, telling him she was only sick and clinging to someone who made her feel safe, but his heart was soaring. _He_ was the one who made her feel safe. Sure, Kili could make her laugh until she rolled, Thorin was her hero in battle, Bombur could make her groan with a single taste of his stew, but Fili was one who made her feel safe.

He reveled in the weight of her in his arms, her soft grip on his side, and memorized the structure of her soft face until she hid in the crook of his neck. Only then did he close his own eyes and drift off.

It was the clank of the door latch that woke (Y/N). Her grip on Fili tightened momentarily before she lifted her head.

“Kili just left. He brought your clothes,” Fili said.

She flipped on her back and stretched. “Thank God. These trousers are much too short for me.”

It was hard work, ignoring her tired, low voice. He’d risen to his elbow to see she’d gained some of her color back and was no longer sweating with her fever. “How are you feeling?” he asked from above.

“Better.” She flung her forearm over her eyes, but peeked at him underneath with a smile. “But I’m never eating your food again.”

Fili laughed and moved to slide off the bed. “Well, I will leave you to rest-”

“No.” She took hold of his waist, but dropped her hand just as quickly. “I mean, y-you don’t have to go.”

“I’ll stay, gulmalûm.” Though he tried, his half smile took its place on his lips as he settled back down into the bed. She turned to him and laid a hand on the center of his chest as she leaned over him. His eyes widened a bit, waiting for her to stop biting her lip and say what she clearly wanted to.

“Thank you for everything you’ve done today. For me. Oin told me how worried you were and how you waited outside for news.”

“Kili was there as well. W-we were all worried about you.”

“You were the one who carried me through the corridors. And refused to leave me alone in here? Is that true or was Oin exaggerating?”

He opened his mouth to speak and closed it with a snap. He moved to sit up, but she pushed him down. “Thank you, gal-galumn- How do you say it?”

He chuckled. “Gulmalûm.”

“Gulmalûm.”

He watched her lips grow round as she finished the word and he couldn’t help but kiss them. When she drew away, the concerned look on her face was quickly replaced with joy as he rolled her on her back and attacked her with sweet, warm kisses. They were a tangled mess of giggles and happy hums when a cough pulled Fili’s lips away. He turned to see Thorin in the doorway.

“I wanted to check on our patient, but all seems to be well,” Thorin said. Behind him Kili shot his brother a thumbs up that sent (Y/N) into a fit of flushing.

“Uncle. I was just, uh, checking to see if-if she was-”

“(Y/N), I’m glad you’re feeling better,” Thorin said. “We were very concerned and I’m relieved you’re all right.” Then he turned to Fili. “Let her get _some_ rest, hm?” He turned and left, but a smirk was just visible on his face. He soon returned and dragged Kili away with him.

When the doors closed, Fili laughed harder than he had in a long time.

“This is more embarrassing than your Kili up at tree story!” (Y/N) cried, holding her face in her hands.

Fili kissed her forehead. “Indeed, but I like this story much better.” He leaned her back to lie on the bed, knitting his lips to hers one last time before pulling the blanket over them both. “Rest now, gulmalûm. There will be time for more humiliation when we see Uncle tomorrow.” He laughed at her groan and tucked her into his side, humming the melody to her favorite song.


End file.
